The Life of Buddy

Chapter XXII

            Like many small towns the football players were idolized by those around them.  They were the most loved and revered of all the students and held to different standards.  They were also the most privileaged and spoiled of all the athletes.  And one way the school showed their undying affection to them was giving them their own personal lounge.

             The Nehemiah Johnson memorial lounge was an addition built onto the school by the Johnson family ten years ago.  It was named after a distant cousin who had been the star quarter back for the team in the mid nineties.  Brian knew very little about him except that he played football, he died tragically in a car accident and that he had a lounge dedicated in his honor.  A lounge that he was not allowed to ever step foot in though it was donated by his family and bore his family name.

          Brian's stomach twisted into knots as they neared the door.  He dug his feet into the ground a few feet away and said "What are you going to do to  me?"

          Ethan looked up and down the hall and said "Just get in there."

          "No."  Brian said trying to pull away.  "Not until you tell me what you are going to do me."

        Ethan grabbed both of his arms which he clamped onto tightly.  "Listen to me whatever I plan on doing to you is nothing compared what I am going to do if you don't do what you are told and get your butt in there."  He then whispered.  "Just trust me."

         Ethan gave him an assuring look and Brian felt himself relax.  "Okay." 

       "Good."  Ethan said as he relaxed as well.  He then let him go and for a brief moment Brian considered running off.  But he knew that was futile.  Ethan was way faster than him and even if he did somehow managed to get away from him he knew that there was no place he could hide from him.  Ethan would show up with a couple of his friends who would help him drag him to the lounge. And whatever punishment Ethan had in store for him would make the whipping he received from Brandon seem like a fond memory.

        "Let's go."  Ethan said as he placed his hand on his back.

       "Okay."  Brian said telling himself that he could trust him.  After all his cousin did not save him from Randall just to bully him himself. 

        Ethan gave him a slight push towards the brown door that led into lounge.  A sign hung on the door that read Football players only, no loosers allowed.  Brian could not help but smile as he read the sign. 

        The door then opened revealing a large room with blue and white painted walls.  He could not help but be in awe as he took it in.  To his left were not one but two foosball tables, a ping pong table, and then a pool table.  A brown couch faced a large plasma television that had a couple of game consoles hooked up to it and in the far right corner was a video game and a refrigerator.  Not a mini a fridge but a full size one.

          "This is awesome."  He said in shock.  "The teacher's lounge isn't even this nice."

         "The teachers don't rake in thousands upon thousands of dollars in alumni money."  Ethan said.

        "Why..."  Brian's question was then cut off by the sound of laughter coming from the back room.  He felt his stomach twist in knots as he wondered who was back there and what they found so amusing.  He was about to ask his cousin when the door opened.

          Ethan poked him in the back with his index finger and said "Keep your mouth shut."

         A talk skinny seventeen year old boy with curly black hair and thick black plastic glasses was pushed out from the room.  The boy's head and clothes were drenched and a look of pure humiliation was plastered across his face.  It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out what that room was and what happened in there.